Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the annual increase for furniture charges was in Single Living Accommodation in each year since 2010.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
There is no separate charge for furniture in Single Living Accommodation.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Goldie on 25 January 2023 (HL4903), what progress they have made towards (1) identifying and marking the graves of Egyptians who died serving the UK during the First World War, including in the Egyptian Labour Corps, and (2) recovering the records of all Egyptians who served with UK forces.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
In its work to identify and mark the graves of the Egyptian Labour Corps and Camel Transport Corps, the Commonwealth War Graves Committee (CWGC) has established that more than 327,000 Egyptians served alongside Commonwealth forces across the Middle East, Turkey, and Western Europe. Of those, the CWGC now know that more than 16,500 died in service. Fewer than 400, however, have been commemorated by name, with the remainder commemorated collectively on the CWGC’s Giza Memorial.
The CWGC has determined that during the Second World War, the Ministry of Interior sent thousands of notifications of death to the fallen personnel's next of kin. The CWGC believes these records are likely to be held either by the Egyptian State archives or possibly by one or more departments of the Government of Egypt. Although this is yet to be confirmed, the CWGC have approached the Egyptian authorities and are working to gain access the relevant archives.
The CWGC's wider historical research in archives across Africa and Europe continues to make positive progress in revealing the names of those previously not commemorated, and in mapping potential burial sites. To date, almost 7,000 names have been recovered and the CWGC are actively working to commemorate these individuals in a manner befitting their service and loss.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will estimate the cost to the defence industry of lost output resulting from disruption linked to political protest in the last 12 months.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence regularly monitors risks and issues facing our suppliers as part of our supply chain resilience work. We have not made a specific estimate of financial costs over the past 12 months.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an estimate of the number of supply chain jobs supported by the work of Team Hersa.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Since the creation of Team Hersa and the Ministry of Defence's (MOD) Directed Energy Weapons Demonstrator Programme in 2020, the MOD estimate is that 249 supply chain jobs have been supported.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has written to defence contractors to seek efficiency savings.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Senior officials continue to engage with our strategic suppliers on how we can drive efficiency into our contracts and ensure we deliver the Defence programme affordably.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an estimate of the number of jobs created by Team Hersa.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Since the creation of Team Hersa and Ministry of Defence's (MOD) Directed Energy Weapons Demonstrator Programme in 2020, the MOD estimate is that 49 jobs have been created.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has had discussions with his US counterpart on the decision to suspend certain licenses for arms exports to Israel.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Defence Secretary regularly speaks with his US counterpart on a wide range of matters of mutual interest.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many UK-based jobs are (a) directly and (b) indirectly linked to the Global Combat Air Programme.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
There are over 3,500 personnel working directly on Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) in the UK across Ministry of Defence and our industry partners; BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, Leonardo UK and MBDA UK.
These partners are supported by hundreds of organisations, including SMEs and academic institutions, spread across the UK. Major combat air industrial hubs in the north-west and south-west of England, and Edinburgh are supporting the development of the advanced skills base and industrial technologies right across the country.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department plans to continue its support for the Minerva satellite project.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence's development of space-based Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance continues with Minerva providing game-changing innovation and technology for this programme. The Strategic Defence Review will guide future capability development priorities, to ensure the United Kingdom is both secure at home and strong abroad - now and for the years to come.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much he plans to spend on defence research and development in (a) this financial year and (b) the next four financial years.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Chancellor has confirmed a challenging in year deficit across all Departments. A spending review process is underway. Departmental spending plans will be set out in the usual way.